Tsunami Disaster Relief Fraud Alert
| Washington D.C. FBI National Press Office |
Washington, D.C. – The FBI today is alerting the public to a variety of scams currently being facilitated online involving the solicitation of additional relief funds for the victims of the recent Tsunami disaster. The FBI, through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), has received reports of websites being established purportedly to assist with collection and relief efforts. Complaints submitted to the IC3 have identified several schemes that involve both unsolicited in-coming emails (SPAM), as well as reports of responses to posted email addresses, to assist for a fee, in locating loved ones who may have been a victim of the disaster. A fraudulent relief donation website has also been detected containing an imbedded Trojan exploit which can infect the user’s computer with a virus if accessed. The FBI, in conjunction with domestic with international law enforcement and industry partners, take seriously these egregious actions and are resolved to aggressively pursuing those who would attempt to victimize philanthropic individuals.The IC3 is cautioning citizens against participating in this type of on-line correspondence. Consistent with previous guidance on incidents of Phishing/Spoofing and Identity Theft, when considering on-line options for providing funding to this relief effort consumers should consider the following:Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming emails.Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or foreign government officials asking for help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. To ensure that contributions to U.S. based non-profit organizations are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charities and aid organizations websites, as opposed to following a link to another site. Attempt to verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations by utilizing various Internet based resources which may assist in confirming the existence of the organization as well as its non-profit status.Be leery of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from know senders.Several variations of this scam are currently in circulation. Anyone who has received an email referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via the website, www.ic3.gov. |
| ● Internet “Phishing” Banking Scam October 18, 2004 |
| Press Release: |
| The Office of the Tulare County District Attorney, Phil Cline, District Attorney, White Collar Crime Unit, the Elder Abuse Prosecution Program and the Elder Abuse Advocacy and Outreach Program issue the following warning: Emails alleging to be warnings, investigation notices or requests for assistance from banks or other financial institutions have been flooding the internet. These emails are the attempts of criminals to obtain personal banking information in order to commit electronic theft. This practice is called “phishing.” The emails indicate a problem and requests the recipient to confirm personal banking information or assist in the investigation by transmitting banking information. Often the notice comes with emotional wording such as safeguarding, mandatory or required with the consequence of suspension of the account if a reply is not made by the recipient. Recent examples include emails purporting to be from Citibank and Citizens National Bank. We recommend anyone receiving such emails to not respond in any manner. Banking information such as account numbers, routing numbers and next of kin are the open doors for criminals to electronically steal money and identity. Such information should never be given to persons or companies whom you do not have a trusted relationship. We further recommend if you are contacted by mail, email or over the phone about your bank account give no information, personally contact your banking institution and call your local police department, the Sheriff’s Department, or the District Attorney’s Office. If you are a senior citizen, in addition, you may also call Tulare County Adult Protective Services (559) 733-6585 or the District Attorney’s Office Elder Abuse Unit at (559) 636-5471. More information may be obtained by calling the District Attorney’s Elder Abuse Advocacy and Outreach Program at (559) 636-5471. |